Larry Holmes: Against the Odds

Larry Holmes: Against the Odds
by Larry Holmes

Larry Holmes: Against the Odds
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Book Summary Information

Author: Larry Holmes
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-10-15
ISBN: 031218736X
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Summary of Larry Holmes: Against the Odds

In Larry Holmes, the reader will experience the uplifting odyssey that took Larry Holmes from a boxing nobody to a world champion. Holmes is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight champions of our time and held the title for more than seven years. But his rise to the top was hardly an easy one. He began his life as one of twelve children raised by a single mother in Cuthbert, Georgia, and had to struggle in poverty for the first sixteen years of his life. His road to champion -- from which he would net $40 million -- was one requiring doggedness and extreme courage, qualities that led people to dub Holmes "The People's Champion".

Also featured in the book is an insider's look at Holmes relationship with Muhammad Ali, his views on the state of boxing in the 1990s -- including the Mike Tyson situation, his fights with Don King, and his ratings of the top boxers today. Larry Holmes is a champion in every sense of the word. He has risen to every challenge he faced -- from poverty to ridicule to naysayers -- and his life story is both inspiring and moving.


An odd twist of publishing fate once again has former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes locked with and overshadowed by the presence of Muhammad Ali; David Remnick's superb biography of the Greatest, King of the World, was published at the same time. The image of his former sparring partner--the beloved, quick, and graceful Ali--haunted Holmes throughout his career, which is too bad, because Holmes was a terrifically skilled fighter who could both box and hit. Like so many boxing stories, Holmes's begins on the wrong side of the tracks; he fights himself out and up from there. Straight-ahead, hard-working, cautious at times, and free of attending glitz, Against All Odds mirrors Holmes's style in the ring and out of it. Its strength is its candor. Holmes never could hide his emotions--or his petulance. His autobiography makes clear his respect for Ali, his hatred of Don King, and the angers that raged around his fight with Gerry Cooney. Indeed, rage is a character in itself. "It was the part of me that always scared me a little because I never completely accepted the fact that I had it in me," Holmes writes. Accept it or not, he rode it to the title, and, no small feat, held that title for seven years. --Jeff Silverman

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